Kassi’s 20 Wishes Project 2013 Wrap Up

Well, 2013 has come and gone!!! This week we’ll be wrapping up our 2013 20 Wishes Project and gearing up for our 2014 20 Wishes Project. The wrap up link up for 2013 will be this Wednesday, January 8th. If you’re interested in joining us this coming year, check out this post for the what and why, then write up your 20 wishes and come back here on Wednesday, January 29, to link up your 2014 list! Since 2013 was our first year with this project, we were a little unorganized, but we still had the best time and really enjoyed getting to know those ladies that linked up and shared their lists and progress with us.

With the 2014 year we are excited to be more organized, invite some awesome blogging ladies to co-host with us, and we plan to offer a giveaway with each monthly progress link up!!! We are REAL excited about this and hope you lovelies will be as well! FYI, we’ll be sharing more details as we draw closer to the launch of this year’s project!

{November and December progress are this color and in italics. September and October progress are this color and in italics. July and August Progress is this color and in italics. May and June updates are this color and in italics. April updates are this color and in italics! Progress for March are this color and in italics. Progress updates from February are this color and in italics. Progress updates for progress report one are red and in italics.}

Here’s a button for those of you that have yet to join and those of you that have yet to grab a button! 😉

 

Kassi’s Twenty Wishes List for 2013

1. Read 50 books, just for fun, that I WANT to read.
I made it!!! I literally finished reading my 50th book on the last day of 2013!!! I did a whole lot of reading the last two months thanks to my library card and free books via my cell phone reader!
In early October I actually went and got a library card! I know, I’ve lived here going on three years and I hadn’t done that yet… But our library has a program where you can borrow electronic books to read on your e-reader as long as you have a library card number! Count me in!!! As of today I have read 28 books… I’m 13 books behind on reaching my goal of 50 by the end of December…. Time to get on it!!!!
I’m back on the reading wagon!! I started with Bringing up Bebe, LOVED it!!! I’ve also read Phil Robertson’s book (of Duck Dynasty) and really enjoyed it! And I just started a photography book!!
So this got stalled a little bit. I’ve been reading up on pregnancy in my What to Expect book, and studying my manual thing from our prenatal class… All other reading has gotten pushed to the way side. WILL work on reading more in the next few weeks!!!
So far I’ve read 22 books putting me 8 books ahead of and almost half way finished with my 50 book goal by the end of the year. I read the Beautiful Creatures series this last month and really enjoyed it if you’re looking for something fun to read in the young adult genre.

2. Take a trip up Mount Graham. (I’ve lived here a year now, think it’s time to start checking out the local sites!)
So on a random Saturday afternoon Nate told me to load up our dogs and a few drinks, we stopped and got a picnic lunch and drove up to the very top of Mt. Graham!!! I have several pictures from the drive there and back, but here’s one of my favorites.

3. Make a scrapbook of my trip to Australia. (I’ve had the photos since um… 2003…. oops….)
This was a 2013 fail. Perhaps a goal to try again for 2014?
I ordered some Australia stickers to help nudge this goal… but I still haven’t started. Hopefully a November project!

4. Participate in a Color Run! {You can see the full post on our Color Run experience here.}

5. Host a girlfriends’ dinner party in my home. Invites, menus, the whole she-bang!
Another 2013 fail. This one WILL get done in 2014. Maybe. 😉

6. Build my photography portfolio to include 10 different sessions.
A lot of why I haven’t done much of anything else as far as wishes is concerned is because I have been CRAZY busy with my photography the last two months. It’s Christmas card season, so I’ve taken a lot of family sessions lately, several newborn and a few weddings! The photo below is from one of my most favorites from a recent senior session!
Business is booming and I’m loving it! I’ve done two engagement sessions recently. I’m also booking fall sessions, have a wedding the end of this month and have already started booking sessions for next year!!!
Over the last couple of weeks I’ve photographed my first wedding and did my first maternity shoot to round out my goal of ten sessions!!! I’ve even photographed another family and had my first senior session this month!! That officially makes 12!!!
Just an update for May-June, so far I have photographed 17 sessions! One was a birthday shoot for a sweet 8 year old girl, a wedding and a few family sessions!

7. Make a photography website and FB page with those 10 sessions.
My website includes 13 blogged sessions so far! I have TONS more sessions to blog and will make it a 2014 goal to get them all done in a timely manner… 😉
Hangs head in shame… I still only have eight sessions posted on my website… I WILL do better in November and try to get at least five sessions posted… That will be my goal for the month!!!
So far I’ve had the time to get 8 of my sessions posted on my site. I have made a concentrated effort to get more posts up the last few weeks. Hopefully I’ll get the rest up by the end of October.
I just launched my website!! I purchased the domain (www.kassimortensenphotography.com) and set it up in March! I’m working on getting the 8 sessions 12 sessions I have added to the page. Be a dear and go check it out, yes? And maybe follow…. 😉
Facebook page is done!!! Won’t you be a doll and like ?!? Oh, and check out my sweet new logo c/o while you’re there. 😉

8. Take a trip to see the fall leaves at Hannigan Meadows. (Was attend an AZ Blogger Event)
I hate to say it, but I don’t think I’ll be able to make any AZ blogger events until Klara is a little older and I have a better handle on my schedule… So I replaced that wish with a trip to Hannigan Meadows. It’s a beautiful mountain drive near where my parents live. The weekend I visited to celebrate my birthday the whole family took a drive up there and checked out the pretty fall colors. It was Klara’s first trip to Hannigan Meadows which warranted a few pictures. 😉

9. Makeover my master bedroom.
2014 will include some kind of wish to get this finished!!! It still needs paint and what not…
So this is a work in progress. We purchased a Cal. King mattress via Groupon. AWESOME deal! Then a few weeks later during, Mother’s Day weekend, my amazing husband took my to purchase a bedroom set in town! We got a beautiful set with a bed, dresser and side tables! No more plastic nightstands for us! We feel so grown up. 😉 BUT because they were able to deliver the bed set that day I haven’t had time to paint it like I wanted. So maybe in a few months once things with baby have calmed down. We’ll see… 😉

10. Visit a winery and do a wine tasting.
Again, this is another wish that isn’t going to happen… I won’t be tasting any wine until I’ve stopped nursing my daughter, which hopefully won’t be for awhile… I’ll think on it and see if I can come up with a replacement for this wish as well.

11. Plant (a) rose bush in my backyard.
I have one rose thriving away in the backyard. I still need to replace the one that didn’t make it, but we’ll call this one a success.
This is actually a goal in progress! I’ve picked out the spot to plant them. Just need the hubs to dig the holes (preggo girls aren’t so good at digging 27 weeks in…) and purchase the rose bushes.
So I actually purchased two roses, had Nate dig the holes for them and we planted them. The one rose is thriving now and even has a few blooms, but the other… Sadly it just didn’t make it. SO I’m not marking this one off until I can get it replaced!!!

12. Take our first real family vacation with Klara. {Replaced take a 2 year anniversary trip just me and the hubs.}
After having our little girl in July, the same month as our two year anniversary, it became obvious that a trip for just the two of us was no longer in the cards. But I am totally OK with that!!! Instead we took our first family vacation and visited South Padre Island, TX to be in our dear friends’ wedding. It was Klara’s first time flying, first trip to the beach, and Kayli’s as well for that matter… 😉 So here are a few photos from our trip!

13. Private wish. (This is something I REALLY, really, REALLY wish for, so I don’t want to jinx it… When it does happen I’ll share what it is.) 😉
My private wish that I shared when we started this project was to become a mommy. Even though I considered myself a mommy as soon as I found out we were expecting our little miss, I waited to share it until now after she was born. I love being Klara Beth’s mommy!!! And Nate is an amazing daddy already! It feels like our little girl has always been a part of our family!!!

14. Makeover our guest bathroom.
Another wish for 2014… Sometimes you just can’t squeeze everything in… And that’s ok. The effort is what counts!!!

15. Plant an upside down Mulberry tree somewhere at my house.
2014 here we come! 😉
Well, the time to plant trees in our area is long past… I do plan to go online and see if I can order one soon so that it will arrive in time to plant it next year.

16. See George Strait in concert for his final tour.
On April 6 me, Kayli and our mom saw King George in Las Cruces! He was AMAZING! See the full post on completing this wish here.

17. Take a photography class or work shop.
This month I started the online photography certification course that I purchased a few months ago via Groupon. So far I’ve made it through the first lesson!
True story… That first lesson is still all that I’ve completed. SLACKER! I know, right!?! Will do better this next month!

18. Download a Book of Mormon reading app of some sort and read at least the first half!
I downloaded Book of Mormon Chapter Tap, it’s an app for $0.99 that lets you check of each chapter as you read through. So far I’m well ahead of schedule!
Actually I am WAY behind schedule now… This goes along with my reading for the year… I just haven’t been into reading the last few weeks. Weird, right!?! Will be working on this one too!!!

19. Visit Build a Bear and actually build a bear.

20. Host a holiday for my family including a traditional dinner.

So as you can see I didn’t get all of my wishes accomplished. Like I mentioned a few wishes back, it’s the effort that counts. I did end up editing a few of my wishes along the way, things that just weren’t going to happen because of one thing or another, and again, I think that’s ok. The point is choosing things that you really want to accomplish, or enjoy, then doing your best to make them work. There’s no need to stress if you can’t… Where would the fun be in that!!! Right!?!

I am SO pumped for this coming year and can’t wait to share my 2014 list with you the end of this month!